Vision to Ready

Bradley ScottXero

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The reality is somewhat messy

● Plenty of ‘ready’ doesn’t come from Vision● Tactical objectives often become priorities● Sometimes the Vision has gaps● Or, isn’t helpful in guiding priorities

So, instead, I’d like to talk about what Xero’s reality is and then talk about how Vision fits into that

Reality at Xero

● Scaling ‘Product ownership’● Making priority decisions and how Vision helps● Aligning roadmap ambition and reality● Investing in line with our Vision● Our design led approach

Then, try to explain all of that in terms of Vision to Ready

Scaling product ownership

● It’s easy when it’s 1 or 2 Pods● A couple of our product lines have 5-10 Pods

● Our current approach:○ Delegated authority between PM and PO○ Optimised for delivery and priority flexibility ○ Makes technical debt and on-going iteration hard

● Persistent ownership considered:○ Better ownership for technical and business outcomes○ Supports a purpose & experience driven organisation

Xero’s approach to scaling

● Our current approach is product decomposition around user experiences

● Challenges:○ Awkward size of product lines○ Almost irresistible pressure to move on top priorities ○ Architectural realities○ Geographical considerations

Select the right granularity of control for your organisation

Making priority decisions

● Now in 4 key markets (NZ, AU, US, UK)● User needs are becoming less homogenous● Broader and more difficult to manage stakeholders● Product Management evolving from delivery management

to value management● Need tools to make this easier

Establishing a common prioritization framework

An approach from Fiserv (formerly M-Com)

Product Strategy

User valueCustomer

valueCompetito

r valueInternal value

Roadmap value

Challenges observed

● Do not use $ as a measure of value○ It’s a lot of work○ It’s easy to game / is falsely accurate○ Excludes parts of your organisation

● Keep it simple● It’s only 1 technique. It’s not a silver bullet● Things do get forced in

People seem to exhibit a bias towards short term value

The 3 Horizons technique

And now Xero’s approach….

ALWAYS

ADHOC

RARELY

NEVER

(N)ONE SOME MOST ALL

% OF THE CUSTOMERS

TO

UC

HE

D

Customer Value Scorecard

0

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

2 3 4 5

3 4 5 6

LARGE

REASONABLE

SOME

NO

PLATFORM KEEP HEARTS WIN HEARTS GAME CHANGER

INVESTMENT THEME

IMP

AC

T

Xero Vision Scorecard

0

2

0

2

0

2

0

2

4 4 4 4

6 6 6 6

XL (11-12)

L (9-10)

M (7-8)

S (<6)

XL L M S

PERCEIVED EFFORT

PE

RC

EIV

ED

VA

LUE

Cost / Value Scorecard

0

1

1

2

2

3

3

4

2 3 4 5

3 4 5 6

PLATFORMKEEP HEARTSGAME CHANGER WIN HEARTS

Candidates ranked and categorized

INVENTORY (5)QUOTES (3)FIXED ASSETS (2)

GLOBAL SEARCH (5)BULK RECODING (5)REPORTING V2 (4)

DASHBOARDS (5) PLATFORM V5 (5)

Aligning roadmap ambition and reality

● “Why is it taking so long?”● “We’ve started that”● Interrupting priorities. Lots of WIP put on the shelf● Invisibility of investment decisions● “We get told scope AND timeframes”

Strategies:● Create a throttle for WIP● Make transparent investment decisions● Get buy in on priorities. Communicate them● Move from ‘slow yes’ to- lots of ‘No’ and confident ‘Yes’

Quarterly prioritization and alignmentPrioritization

forum discussion

Various comms

Candidate priorities

Planning with Pods

Published roadmap (+ videos)

Delivery

throughout the quarter

~1 month before quarter start

< 1 month from quarter start

Just before / at the start of the quarter

Near the start of the quarter

Throughout the quarter

The intention is to have rolling wave planning within each product line looking ~90 days out. But a more formal / explicit quarterly synchronization process to align dependencies across product lines, and communicate to broader sets of stakeholders

informsvalidated by

is fed into

results inis realised by

changes the

Risks to this approach

● Temptation resist change to the quarterly plan● Thinking and discussions only happen just before end of

quarter

Hopefully the organisation learns to plan in rolling waves

Investing in line with Vision1. Product Portfolio Investment allocation

Decide the right proportion / amount to be investing in different Xero products (Payroll vs Mobile vs Practice Manager, etc) What proportion best advances our business objectives?

2. Business-as-usual investment allocationMake transparent our investment levels to upkeep current client satisfaction and on-going development efficiency.

E.g. fixing production issues, Servicing technical debt, Improving the existing product functions

Payroll - B%Xero (inc banking, FA, Shared components) - A%

Mobile C%

Practice Mgr - F%

API E%

CRM H%

SX / MX D%

Self Serve G%

Enhance existing product features - C%

Production break / fix - A%

Service tech debt B%

New development - D%

2. New Development investment allocationIdentify key investment themes that support product strategy and determine the proportionate investment to support each.

Particular product roadmaps are informed by this investment guidance and created by Product Managers

Complete core Accounting engine - A% Change the Game - B%

Our design-led approach

From the vision:● Start with researching and validating the user need● Come up with the ideal solution● Design screen flows up front● Engineering considerations come second. The user comes

first● Has historically been an ‘agency’ design approach rather

than ‘embedded’ approach● Product Owners make the final call. But, the design team is

a key participant

Challenges with our current approach

● Designs are expensive to change once engineering realities come to light

● Increasing agility in development is creating tensions● It’s not always clear what is the future beacon and what is

the design to be developed

There is thinking underway to reform the design-development process:● Retain the design led values and focus on users● Increase ability to respond to change and new information

A Vision to Ready● We try to invest in the right products and places to give

effect to our Vision● We use an investment scoring model to help make

prioritization decisions informed by our Vision● We try to structure our organisation around experiences,

and cascade control via Product Managers and Product owners

● When we start work, we always will take a Design led approach

Hopefully everyone is aware of the vision so at every level they can make decisions in alignment with it

Thanks for listening…Bradley Scott XeroFollow me @bradley_scott

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